Hyderabad blasts: NIA interrogates IM operatives

Hyderabad: Two suspected IM operatives are being questioned by the NIA on Friday in connection with the February 21 twin blasts here that left 16 people dead. A court in Delhi had on Thursday granted the NIA five-day custody of Syed Maqbool and Imran Khan for their interrogation following which the two were brought to Hyderabad by the agency.

The agency had told the court that it would take both of them to Hyderabad and question them for more clues about the blasts, as the ongoing probe points that Indian Mujahideen (IM) module was behind it. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had alleged that Maqbool and Khan had in July last year recced Hyderabad's Dilsukhnagar area where the blasts occurred claiming 16 lives and leaving 119 injured.

Maqbool and Khan are presently lodged in Tihar Jail following their arrest by Delhi Police in connection with the August 2012 Pune blast case. "The duo are in NIA custody and are being questioned here," sources said without elaborating much.

A Delhi court had granted the NIA custody of Syed Maqbool and Imran Khan for their interrogation.

According to the NIA, the blasts took place on the alleged instructions of IM's Pakistan-based founder Riyaz Bhatkal and the duo's interrogation will help in unearthing the exact plan envisaged by him. The blasts in Hyderabad were triggered by powerful IEDs planted near Konark and Venkatadiri theatres in Dilsukhnagar.